This film is part of Rentals

Law and Disorder

Alastair Sim is in splendid form as a staid, slightly seedy solicitor in this cheerfully patriotic war-time espionage comedy.

Legal and Courtroom drama 1940 74 mins Not rated

Director: David MacDonald

Overview

There’s Thin Man-style wisecracking and plenty of Alastair Sim’s splendid glum Scots humour in this fast-paced home-front comedy, which sees youthful solicitor Larry Preston (Barry K. Barnes) and his high-spirited wife Janet (Diana Churchill) wind up Larry’s lugubrious senior partner Samuel Bright (Sim) in their race to expose a radio-controlled wartime bombing plot.

Gifted character actor Edward Chapman (seen here as Inspector Bray) would go on to achieve comedy immortality in some of Norman Wisdom’s funniest films as the grand but long-suffering Mr Grimsdale.